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I was just wondering in what ways people were storing their models? I recently got started on my first 40k army (powers of the warp were too tempting!) and have no idea how to store/transport them. The case that my local gaming club sells is, IMO, too over priced ($120) and I'm not sure it could hold my army or certain pieces of it. I have about 80 models of standard infantry (CSMs, Cultists, Chosen, Possesed & Lords/HQ choices), 6 bikes, 2 Helbrutes, 1 Rhino, 1 Predator, & a Heldrake. Anyone know an efficient (both in cost and space) way of storing/transporting these models? Interested to hear what the good people at Dakka have done with their armies. Thanks!

is transportation a problem? The cheapest and most effective way is usually to make your own carry case. Usually a decent sized army will require quite a few cases or a really large case. Hobby Lobby or a similar type outfit carries plastic cases,storage bin type things in varying sizes. They also have differnt types of foam that you can buy in the sewing area usually but that can be custom cut to fit any model.

Storing? I use shelves.

Transporting? I use a variety of mini cases: Army Transport Motor Pool and Army Transport Originals. Cardboard boxes lined with foam. Hard cases with foam. Tablewar case with magnetized trays (my favorite right now, but spendy. No more breaking models putting them in and out of foam!)

For my Catachan IG army, which are all metal minis, I use battle foam trays. I have no case, just the two trays that hold all of them, ogryns too. I have a plastic Christmas ornament case that holds all the chimeras, tanks, and other IG goodness

Now, my orks, there are so many of them, I have them all tossed into a cardboard box. The Kans, Deff dreads, deffkopttas are all in plastic bins to keep from breaking, however, the over 140 boyz/nobs (most from black reach) are bulk loose in box.

Where do you guys get the foam in the US for your custom storage bins? Any chain stores that carry them?

You can generally go to any big department store. In the hardware aisles they have sheet foam.

There are TONS of threads on this, so if you want more info, try doing a simple search on either transporting or storing minis.

I use;
* xmas ornament boxes, with metal bottoms, and magnets on the bases of my minis.
* gun cases from the sporting good stores, with eggcrate foam in it (they are cheap, about $15).
* battlefoam bags.
* sabol trays in shoe boxes (another brand of storage).

I have used a variety of things over the years, and have to say, yes, good storage is either going to be expensive, or labor intensive (pick one).

But, once you have painted your minis to a decent standard, or get tired of repairing them....well, we all have to decide if it is worth it.

if you are just getting started out...I would suggest the pistol cases from your local sporting good stores.

Here are some links for reference (and don't forget to search for more!!!).

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Plano-Gun-Guard-SE-Series-4-Pistol-Accessory-Case-Black/20893850

The dark vengeance box conveniently holds 10 rhinos/preds pretty much perfectly.

My plan is to magnetise bases and store and carry minis on metal trays as I really don't like using foam. Takes up a lot of room and it's annoying to use imo. Haven't gotten around to sorting that yet though ; p

My tyranid army is stored in small Chinese takeaway co trainers with a couple of bits of paper towel above and below the models and I lay them down. Each one fits 10 gaunts perfectly. And my bigger models are stored in small cardboard boxes from parcels etc with bubble wrap on the bottom. Easy!

One note on the "magnetized trays" vs. "foam" question.

I have both, and have had both for years. Each has their pros and cons.

In practice, the magnetized trays work ok for PLASTIC minis (or finecast). It can survive a minor bump or drop without too many minis moving around, or banging into one another (I do suggest N52 grade rare earth magnets on the bases, just an FYI).

However, with metal minis, or minis with higher centers of gravity (like a tyranid zonethrope, or a ctan for example) the magnitized on sheet metal, while keeping them in place for the most part, does not hold up well to any kind of bump or jostle in practice (i.e. in actual use, as opposed to just sitting in your game room).

So, if you decide to go with minis on a metal tray (I have literally done this for hundreds of minis) then if they are metal minis, or tl minis, I would suggest at a minimum a least placing some sheets of thin foam, or bubble wrap between the rows.
Really.

One big advantage of metal trays however, is figure density.
Since you are not restricted at all by the shapes of any precut foam spaces or anything like that. I use 12"x12" trays, and easily put over 100 basic infantry guys in a tray.

This helps a lot with oddball sized mins as well (tau sniper drones, most tryanids, etc.).

While I have slowly switched for the most part to foam - I still have the majority of my minis magnetized...I use it for movement and trays and display boards at tourneys...(makes it much easier to move from table to table).
(edited to add pic of metal storage tray - this is a scrapbook storage box from a craft store, with a piece of 12"x12" plated sheet metal from home depot in the bottom).[img]

best of luck!

I'm using metal sheets in my shelves and plastic transport boxes to store and move my models around. Obviously that means that I've chosen to stick magents under the models.

For 25 and 40mm bases, I use self-adhesive 1.2mm thick magnetic foil. The magnetic foil is heavy, even for a metal model (maybe not a zoantrope, but anything else like jumppack marines) and helps keep the model from falling over. It also has more friction to the metal plate than a neo-dym magnet.

For 60mm round and monster bases, I use 2-3 5mmx3mm disc magnets. These neo-dym magnets have an approximate strength of 700 grams each. With 3mm thickness they fit snug under the 60mm round and monster bases.

I've never had a model move around in the box during transport by car, but I guess your mileage may vary.

Great info on the magnet/metal tray storage in practice, thanks!

For my infantry, I use tackle box trays and a large tackle box from wal-mart. Large models get transported in a mil-spec SKB case with various foam depending on what I'm transporting. Nice thing about the tacklebox trays is it's very easy to swap out between multiple armies and types of units. I keep the trays in stackable plastic drawers at home.

For troops, I have a magnet glued inside the base and they are go nicely into a metal toolbox.

 Ifurita wrote:
For troops, I have a magnet glued inside the base and they are go nicely into a metal toolbox.

Same here. 2 Flyrants, 2 Tervigons, 3 Carnifexes, 4 Spore Pods, 50 Termagants, 10 Genestealers all fit in mine with room.
Even the metal models barely move (just need more magnets )

My Tau have magnetic bases from galeforce9 and they are stored and transported in a big metal toolbox. They were previously in pluck foam trays but it seemed an inefficient use of space.

For Flames of War I have a Battlefoam case coming. They mostly sit on a shelf right now.

Guys (or gals...aliens, whatever)...as I said, I have had a ton of success with magnetized minis...up to and including big metal hive tyrants (the nids are stored in a three tier 12"12" stackable ornament box).

It works great!

However....

I am just sharing, my hard earned experience of what can happen if you use this method, the first time someone knocks your case over, or it falls off the seat (I use a seat buckle on my minis now!) onto the floor when you stop, or worse, you drop your case.

its not pretty. Magnets alone will not protect you in these cases...(or magnets strong enough, you will pull the model apart if not careful when pulling them out of the case).

So, I am suggesting to anyone who uses magnets, to maybe put some kind of material around some of the minis....or just never have an accident.... :O

Anyways, while I find the magnetic method give the BEST storage density of any means of transporting, the eggcrate foam cases are a very quick and expensive way to store and transport. You just wont get as much storage per case.

Lastly, a battlefoam or sabol case, will be even more secure (very) but are expensive, and don't hold as much.
(although I have a ton of very well designed batlefoam designs, for tau and tyranids).

what ever you do, just remember that once you get your army built and painted.....your hard work is worth protecting.

best of luck!

I have found that for vehicles and other things that don't fit well into foam trays, pistol and rifle cases work well for them. Wait for a sale and you can pick them up cheap.

For the guys who go with magnets glued to bases + sheet metal trays: Do you ever have issues with the magnets fighting with each other once your minis are deployed on the table? Those neodymium suckers are pretty strong and I'd be worried that two models standing next to each other on the table might end up pulling/flipping each other if the magnets are too large.

Otherwise, this seems like something I'd like to try. Gotta love magnets. insaneclownposse.jpg


Also, for the foam box guys : what technique do you use to actually cut and size the holes? I've tried this before with a box cutter and the results really weren't spectacular.

for storage, Eggcartons are a cheap quick/dirty option untill you have better. I use them to store units well I paint them, untill I switch them to their more permanent homes.

Cowbellicus wrote:
For the guys who go with magnets glued to bases + sheet metal trays: Do you ever have issues with the magnets fighting with each other once your minis are deployed on the table? Those neodymium suckers are pretty strong and I'd be worried that two models standing next to each other on the table might end up pulling/flipping each other if the magnets are too large..

No, never.
I use pretty strong magnets. I have never ever seen this - I think it was pure speculation once, and turned into a type of gamer urban legend.
If your magnet is this strong that it attracts to another model standing next to it on the table - you would not be able to remove the mini from the box.

I have some VERY strong magnets (used for mounting flyers on 1" acrylic rod) and it would take one of those to try and attract two minis together,and I doubt you are putting $3 magnets on each of your minis.

I have about 300 minis magnetized with rare earth magnets - never happened once.

Also, for the foam box guys : what technique do you use to actually cut and size the holes? I've tried this before with a box cutter and the results really weren't spectacular.

Some people use an electic knife..the kind for carving turkeys. No, seriously....the fabric stores use them to cut large sheets of foam as well.

I use a very sharp long bladed knife, or my hot wire foam cutter tools.

Cowbellicus wrote:
Also, for the foam box guys : what technique do you use to actually cut and size the holes? I've tried this before with a box cutter and the results really weren't spectacular.

I buy the KR Multicase stuff and when I have to cut it I use sharp dress maker's scissors, it isn't perfect but it works.

When you have a very large collection spread over multiple armies storage becomes a real problem or very expensive. I am looking at getting the new bits of my Marine army some KR foam and for a dozen rhino chassis, couple of hundred marines (40 to a tray so isn't that many trays), and 4 drop pods it was coming out at over £100. Don't even get me started on how much I'd need to drop to put my Warhounds or Thunderhawk in foam. That money could be spent on more models so its a hard decision to make but I am rapidly running out of room again so I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet.

Over the years I have made a big investment in KR Multicase foam and I have a large number of their cardboard boxes coupled with a metal 2, metal 3 *2 and cloth 4 (number is the number of cardboard boxes it would fit) transport case. I recently found a local shop selling plastic crates that cost less than the cardboard box from KR that are almost the exact same width and length as the cardboard boxes but much deeper. I can get 3 cardboard boxes in them so I brought a number of foam trays for them.

Other than price the thing I don't like about foam is that it is hard to get it to fit anything that isn't remotely standard in shape without wasting a lot of dead space in the foam. Dead space is a real problem as it increases the number of trays you need to take. I'm not a fan of storing models on shelves as it takes up more room than if they are packed away and they get dusty so I put up with it.

I still use a tray for when I am at an event but my foam to get there.

Cowbellicus wrote:
For the guys who go with magnets glued to bases + sheet metal trays: Do you ever have issues with the magnets fighting with each other once your minis are deployed on the table? Those neodymium suckers are pretty strong and I'd be worried that two models standing next to each other on the table might end up pulling/flipping each other if the magnets are too large.
...

I had never had that happen. The polarity of the magnets will be vertical - you want them to stick to the metal plate after all. While there will be some attraction sideways, it will be minimal. Next, the strength of the magnetic field drops very quickly with increasing distance between magnets. Last, there are opposing forces - the friction between the base and the table and the weight of the mini. Friction may sound trivial, but it alone can be strong enough to hold a magnet in a hole without glue, even if an equal or significantly stronger magnet is trying to pull it out.

For giggles, I just put a couple of magnet pairs with different sizes on my cutting mat and moved one towards the other until that moved.
6x6mm moved at 4cm distance
5x3mm moved at 3cm distance
4x1.5mm moved at 2cm distance
3x1mm moved at 1.5cm distance

If you now consider that 60mm and monster bases have ~3mm clearance under them, it makes sense to test that. I used a 60mm base with two 5x3 magnets (two points make a line) to test. I placed the magnets as far as possible out of the center, touching the edge. The base has a very light load - some cork, a plastic juggernaut and a plastic rider, so the weight is minimal compared to a resin or metal mini. Then I moved another 5x3mm magnet towards the spot where the magnet is under the base. At less than 0.5cm the base moved.

So we can conclude:
1) yes, it is possible for a model with a magnet at the edge of it's base to be moved by a magnet very close to it. However, it's perfectly logical that I haven't experienced that, considering the small distance (about 2-3mm between bases if you consider the base edge being non-vertical) and that I'd need to line up the magnets of both mini's perfectly in the first place.
2) If the magnets are in the center of the base or at least 0.5cm away from the edge, there is no chance of the model moving.